Sophie Monks Kaufman
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Old Oak (2023) |
Although a lot of the film feels like a breathless box-ticking exercise designed to Include Every Pertinent Fact, the chemistry between Turner and Mari leads to a relationship rarely seen in cinema. - indieWire
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| Posted May 30, 2023
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Last Summer (2023) |
A dose of amusing hot trash in which a woman simply cannot stop having sex with her stepson. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 26, 2023
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Banel & Adama (2023) |
A striking debut that puts Sy on the map as a purveyor of deceptively gorgeous visions that show flimsy desires at the mercy of the social, and literal, weather. - indieWire
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| Posted May 25, 2023
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The Breaking Ice (2023) |
Jules et Jim for the seasonally depressed, full of emotional nooks and crannies that are excavated as the three actors let the push and pull between what is communicable and what must be suffered alone flicker across their faces. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 22, 2023
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Along Came Love (2023) |
Each new episode is written, shot and acted with such vividness that the lulls between narrative reveals never feel frustrating. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 22, 2023
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The Animal Kingdom (2023) |
Anchoring what may sound like a rather involved plot are a triumvirate of formidable and unflashy performances that convincingly sell this ambitiously wrought world. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 19, 2023
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Occupied City (2023) |
If his formal motives here are sometimes obscure, McQueen’s sincerity is never in question. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 18, 2023
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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2022) |
It is a tremendously moving concept, powered by a deep belief in our human desire to help each other to make progress. Where it flounders is in the lack of visual imagination and supporting-character texture. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Apr 24, 2023
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Loving Highsmith (2022) |
Lays bare the turmoil bubbling beneath Highsmith’s cold image, both enriching and deepening our understanding of her fiction. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Apr 13, 2023
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No Bears (2022) |
The humane light that Panahi strives to use on even his most oppressive characters belies a sharp awareness of the power lines and misinformation that color an atmosphere where no one is easy around telling the truth. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 09, 2022
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Blonde (2022) |
[Dominik] has made a film inspired by Marilyn Monroe where she is monotonously characterized as a victim. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 08, 2022
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Saint Omer (2022) |
The slow tempo of the image assembly has the effect of creating a quiet atmosphere that sometimes lags, until a sudden gut punch crashes into you like a tidal wave. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 07, 2022
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Dead for a Dollar (2022) |
From binocular-vision shots to the sepia-tinged saloon bars, Hill has made a movie that doffs its ten-gallon hat to its forebears. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 06, 2022
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Argentina, 1985 (2022) |
An entertaining biopic about recent Argentine history that takes the baton from Shakespeare’s idea that “some men have greatness thrust upon them.” - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 03, 2022
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All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) |
This is an overwhelming film. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 03, 2022
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A Couple (2022) |
How it feels to be the prime collateral damage of a life deemed “pathetic” is the objective of Wiseman’s portraiture here and, by the end, he has created a devastating and essential rendering of this exact scenario. - indieWire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2022
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Piaffe (2022) |
Nothing is phoned in here, everything is calibrated to a unique frequency so that even though you can trace the influence of Bette Gordon, Catherine Breillat, and Lucille Hadzhihalillovic, Piaffe is its own playful and majestic beast. - indieWire
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| Posted Aug 12, 2022
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Human Flowers of Flesh (2022) |
Human Flowers of Flesh is a meditative gem powered by images, shot by Wittmann herself, that, on their own terms, make the film worth your time. - indieWire
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| Posted Aug 09, 2022
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Crimes of the Future (2022) |
Starring Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart, Crimes of the Future is funny, serious, and sexy all at once. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Jun 27, 2022
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Showing Up (2022) |
Showing Up is a rare film about the art world that presents a scene of artists who won’t be getting rich off their work. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Jun 27, 2022
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Triangle of Sadness (2022) |
Triangle of Sadness has no politics beyond gesturing toward extreme wealth and power and saying, “That ain’t right,” and it has no counterpoint to this paradigm which it presents so sneeringly. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Jun 27, 2022
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Mother and Son (2022) |
Léonor Serraille comes good with her novelistic second feature about an immigrant family fighting for survival in France. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 30, 2022
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The Stranger (2022) |
This is a curious, slightly underwhelming offering. Even so, falling flat as a result of being understated to a fault is a promising event in a genre dominated by obvious signposting, and Wright is certainly one to watch for the future. - indieWire
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| Posted May 20, 2022
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Scarlet (2022) |
The pacing... is sometimes languorous to a fault. Still, the characters and images are illustrated with a fierce and breathtaking beauty. - Little White Lies
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| Posted May 18, 2022
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Men (2022) |
The eerie folklore doesn’t cohere in a bloody spectacle that’s absurdly kitsch rather than exhilarating. - Time Out
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| Posted May 10, 2022
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One of These Days (2020) |
Günther executes stray powerful moments, but his lack of a handle on the material leads to two hours so meandering that the story drifts away in a haze of boredom. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Mar 31, 2022
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Deep Water (2022) |
The dynamic between Ana De Armas and Ben Affleck is fascinating: not ridiculous enough to be camp, but not far off. - The Playlist
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| Posted Mar 16, 2022
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Midnight Cowboy (1969) |
Director John Schlesinger and screenwriter Waldo Salt pump so much emotion into it that it becomes a moving epitaph both to its two striving characters and the American dream itself. - Time Out
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| Posted Mar 14, 2022
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Memory Box (2021) |
The marriage of abstract existential themes, immersive, tactile images and dual timelines is always impressive but only occasionally moving. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Jan 21, 2022
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The Story of Film: A New Generation (2022) |
Inevitably, there is a tacked-on quality here, yet Cousins' flair for providing visual pleasure means that, like that first champagne cocktail of the night, The Next Generation bubbles with sparkling uplift. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Dec 21, 2021
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The Hand of God (2021) |
Lovely and jarring in equal measure. The man needs to step back from Fellini homaging. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Dec 01, 2021
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Spencer (2021) |
Showing how the dream of being a rich and beautiful princess curdled into a nightmare might sound like a hard sell, but Spencer pulls it off in heightened, claustrophobic and truly decadent fashion. - Time Out
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| Posted Sep 07, 2021
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Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021) |
In a sense this is Amirpour's most honest film. Unlike her previous ones, which struck a faux somber tone, this wears its neon, fun-loving heart on its sleeve. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Sep 07, 2021
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Sundown (2021) |
An intriguing premise is snuffed out. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Sep 05, 2021
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Official Competition (2021) |
Controlled pacing, visual punchlines, and an insider knowledge of the varied pretensions within filmmaking make this a consistently amusing - if never downright hilarious - vehicle for the well-honed comic sides of two of Spain's most famous exports. - The Playlist
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| Posted Sep 04, 2021
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The Lost Daughter (2021) |
It may not all add up but this is an ambitious and taboo-tackling first feature with an atmosphere that lingers thanks to gutsy performances from Colman and Buckley. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Sep 04, 2021
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The Power of the Dog (2021) |
Campion is a master of intertwining character and plot, so that a revelation of one nudges the other along. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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The French Dispatch (2021) |
The film's formal inventiveness pushes the envelope, even for Anderson. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Aug 16, 2021
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The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021) |
The seven shorts are impressively varied, given the constraints under which they were made. - Hyperallergic
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| Posted Aug 16, 2021
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The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (2021) |
This documentary has value as a damning account of the film-world's treatment of a child actor, yet as a piece of art and a personal portrait, its vagueness creates unease. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Jul 30, 2021
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Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege (2021) |
There is something about Al-Khatib and the people of Yarmouk that transmutes the very best as well as the very worst aspects of humanity. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Jul 20, 2021
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Bergman Island (2021) |
Wasikowska and Danielsen Lie deliver extraordinarily layered performances, channelling the familiarity of people who have already lived a major story together, along with the painful knowledge that this story is done. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Jul 13, 2021
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The Divide (2021) |
Sometimes the transitions between plot lines feel forced or messy, yet this is a minor quibble with a film whose personal and political ambitions are pulled off with a satisfying level of heart. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Jul 13, 2021
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Ahed's Knee (2021) |
Yet Ahed's Knee is fundamentally a work of art rather than politics. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Jul 08, 2021
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The Souvenir Part II (2021) |
Evidence of [Hoggs'] intention to own this portrait of the artist as a young, bereaved woman arrives in a perfectly judged finale, where Hogg's own voice has the final word. - Sight & Sound
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| Posted Jul 08, 2021
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Take Me Somewhere Nice (2019) |
The dominant tone in Take Me Somewhere Nice is set by the filmmaker's absurd sense of humor in the face of unsettling twists and turns. - Reverse Shot
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| Posted Jun 11, 2021
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The 8th (2020) |
Impressive scope, storytelling and sensitivity makes this a fine capture of Irish abortion rights history being made and the beautiful spirit of the campaigners who fought to push their country into the future. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted May 29, 2021
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Promising Young Woman (2020) |
An ambitious, original and surprisingly emotional calling card from Emerald Fennell, with a ferociously great Carey Mulligan performance and a theme that couldn't belong more to this cultural moment. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Apr 13, 2021
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Dirty God (2019) |
An intimate portrait of a restless young woman seeking mind, body and soul comfort. Newcomer Vicky Knight is magnetic and there are flashes of kinetic brilliance despite sketchy stretches. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Feb 14, 2021
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Simple Passion (2020) |
Although the pleasures of the flesh are shown with enough erotic power to convince us of Hélène's addiction to them, the anonymity of the lead characters stops the film from truly gripping. - Empire Magazine
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| Posted Feb 04, 2021
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